Glen-da-lock

I cannot sing the praises of IES more loudly. They have been instrumental in getting us twelve Trinity students prepared for the challenges, adventures, and experiences of living in Ireland. They provided things instrumental to getting settled in Ireland: a letter of financial guarantee that helped me obtain a student visa, an apartment to live in, maintenance services when our refrigerator and washing mashing broke on the same weekend, RAs to help us get adjusted and reach living agreements with our flatmates…I could go on. Not only this, but they organise weekly events for us from table quizzes to dessert potlucks, making an effort to get to know each of us on a more personal level.

One of the bigger events that they organise is a day trip to Glendalough (I have phoneticized it in the post title), a 8th century monastic settlement south of Dublin nestled between two pristine lakes (in fact, the name “Glendalough” actually means “between two lakes”—lough being the now familiar term for lake). We had an absolutely gorgeous September day (I know, I’m a little late in posting this entry) for this hike. And the view from the top was spectacular.

Unfortunately, my camera died at the top! But this ended up being quite a blessing in disguise. I was really able to take in nature and experience the exhilaration of standing at the top of a mountain where monks stood over 1000 years ago, looking at the exact same beautiful surroundings. The descent was a little treacherous since my knee had acted up on my run the day before, and I wanted to make sure I was OK for the half marathon that I ran the next day (see Freshers’ Week Post—I know, I’m probably confusing you all).

Here are some pictures that I did capture before my camera died:



And one I stole form Jess: